Where are we now on Climate Change?

Readers of LSS, being the educated, far seeing type, will agree that whatever the ups and downs of Trumps, Kardashians and the Premier League, the issue of climate change is the paramount one if our times. How far have we got-and what about the backsliders?

Writing for Bloomberg, Akshat Rathi is an optimist.* He sees climate change action as becoming “institutionalised”. Despite the growing disasters like floods and fires, he sees much to be proud of. His List of Good Guys is big and growing- Japan, China South Korea the EU and the UK, whose recent divorce agreement mentioned climate change 51 times. Even the USA gets a favourable mention, thanks to the election of Joe Biden. It’s a nice, readable audit of how far we’ve come.

It may no longer be polite to be an out-and-out denier at the best dinner tables, but according to Michael E Mann, author of The New Climate War, the other side have simple shifted tactics-much as the tobacco lobby did when it was clear that the game was up on scientific grounds. They now go in for soft denialism, and the range of tactics is accomplished. A favourite target is renewable energies like wind and solar, which become a target of scare stories in right wing outlets, or lobbying against subsidies for their development. There’s far more than the space in a tiny blog allows-see for yourself.

We rarely take a personal note. But one of the more astonishing moments of our life was when we were assured by a Brazilian Student that “climate scientists are only in it for the money” When we compared the pitiful salaries of researchers against the massive financial resources of the carbon industries, we knew where the money lay. And how much he still had to learn. Progress has been made, but we have a long, long way to go.

Climate Action Is Embedding Into How the World Works – Bloomberg

THE NEW CLIMATE WAR | Kirkus Reviews

Book Reference The New Climate War Michael E Mann Public Affairs 2021

#climatechange #globalwarming #renewable energy #fossilfuel #softdenialism